Quincy councilor says state mishandled pot shop process

Saturday

Mar 1, 2014 at 6:00 AM

A Quincy city councilor says the state's Department of Public Health hurried the application process for medical marijuana dispensaries and may not be ready to regulate the facilities, one of which is set to come to Quincy.

Patrick Ronan The Patriot Ledger @pronan_Ledger

QUINCY – A Quincy city councilor says the state’s Department of Public Health rushed the application process for medical marijuana dispensaries and may not be ready to regulate the facilities, one of which is set to come to Quincy.“DPH dropped the ball here,” Ward 4 City Councilor Brian Palmucci said.

On Friday, Palmucci echoed some of the sentiments expressed earlier this week by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who said DPH did not verify all the information in the 20 applications given provisional approval for medical marijuana dispensaries. One of the proposed sites is 216 Ricciuti Drive in West Quincy, located in Palmucci’s ward.

Quincy officials, including Palmucci, have said they are willing to consider a plan by Ermont Inc., a Provincetown nonprofit, to open a dispensary in West Quincy. However, Palmucci said he is concerned the state isn’t equipped to regulate the medical marijuana industry, judging by its performance during the application process.

Good Chemistry, which was granted preliminary approval by for a dispensary in Boston and a cultivation site in Worcester, has admitted to mistakenly including statements of local support from Worcester-area officials in a rush to file its application on time. Similar concerns have been raised over an application for a Haverhill dispensary.

“They couldn’t call local officials? To me, it’s absolutely baffling that they wouldn’t do the simplest of tasks,” Palmucci said of DPH. “If they can’t even get the application process right, it calls into question their ability to oversee these dispensaries once they’re open.”

In Ermont’s application, Mayor Thomas Koch and Andrew Scheele, the city’s public health commissioner, submitted letters saying they supported the company’s pursuit of a license. DPH required each applicant to include letters of support from local officials.

Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Koch, said the mayor has no problem with how Ermont depicted its relationship with the city.

“It has not been misrepresented at all,” Walker said.

However, Walker said Koch’s letter was meant to demonstrate the city’s non-opposition to Ermont’s plan, rather than to show support.

“There is still a very substantial process that firm must go through via zoning and negotiating a host agreement with the city,” Walker said.

If Ermont gets final approval, John “Jack” Hudson, president and CEO of the nonprofit, said the dispensary at 216 Ricciuti Drive, next to the Granite Links Golf Club, will open in August or September.

Palmucci said a community meeting will be held March 20 to allow Ermont officials to present their plan to city residents. The location of the meeting hasn’t been finalized yet.

Earlier this week, DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, said DPH should scrap its list of approved dispensaries and start the application process over. Gov. Deval Patrick has said the licensing process does not need to be restarted, citing nine additional steps before final licenses are awarded.

Valerio Romano, an attorney representing Ermont and Healthy Pharms Inc, the dispensary applicant in Haverill, said restarting the process would only hurt sick patients who could benefit from marijuana.

“I think it would be unfair to make patients suffer because of what I think is politics more than anything based in fact,” Romano said.